


Alecto

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: First War with Voldemort, Gen, Slytherins Being Slytherins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2014-10-05
Packaged: 2018-02-20 02:55:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2412392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alecto wants to know more, so, like any good Slytherin, she starts scheming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alecto

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alley_Skywalker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alley_Skywalker/gifts).



Alecto looked curiously around the Slytherin table. Of course, since she was a Slytherin, she did it surreptitiously, and her expression was one of disdain, rather than interest. But interested she was.

Tonight was the first night of Summer Hols, and her parents had hinted quite strongly that something very important was going to happen that night. A meeting, they admitted, but they wouldn’t say more than that.

Still, Alecto wasn’t a Slytherin for nothing. The darker pureblood familites had been hinting for months that a new power was rising – perhaps even a Dark Lord. Could that be the reason for the meeting? Pumping her parents for more information would probably be futile; though pureblooded, the Carrows were not wealthy and well-connected like the Blacks or Malfoys or Rosiers. It was likely that her parents wouldn’t know that much more than Alecto herself.

But Bellatrix, or Evan, on the other hand, might know what tonight was all about. So Alecto watched. Watched them for hints of nervousness, of excitement, of the knowing smirk that Bellatrix had never managed to fully mask.

And her watching paid off.

It was fast – almost unnoticeably so – but Lucius glanced up from his conversation with Severus and Evan and happened to catch Bellatrix’s eye. She smirked, and he nodded, and both returned to their conversations.

The moment was gone before she could blink, but Alecto knew it was important. She might not know the details of tonight’s meeting, but she knew who would.

oOo

It was relatively easy to catch the same carriage to the train as Evan, and to Alecto’s delight, Antonin was inside as well. He was one of the brightest boys in their year, and sure to be invited if the new dark lord was recruiting.

“I’m so excited for tonight,” Alecto gushed as soon as the carriage door closed and it began to move. “You’re both going, right?”

Antonin affected confusion, but Evan gave a half-nod before catching himself. Alecto bit back a smirk. Some of the others were simply too easy to work. “I wonder what he’s like…”

Antonin snorted, and Alecto gave him a sideways glance. She refrained from pouting – she could never pull off that ‘feminine wiles’ thing that Bellatrix and the other girls used so frequently – but she didn’t hold back her amusement. “What?”

Antonin frowned, but it was Evan who responded. “You haven’t met him?” He sounded surprised, and Alecto refrained from growling.

Clearly, the dark lord did exist, and had been meeting with her Housemates. They had to have been meeting individually or in small groups for Evan to not know she hadn’t been granted the opportunity. So the real question was, why had she been left out? It was true she was only a sixth year, but she was called to tonight’s meeting, wasn’t she? So was her brother, for that matter, and he only a fourth year! “I assume I’ll meet him tonight,” she finally bit out.

Antonin relaxed somewhat, and Alecto wondered why. He had clearly also met the new dark lord, but why would he be relieved that she hadn’t? “I believe only the seventh years met with him over Easter,” Antonin conceded.

Evan looked surprised, but Alecto was too busy fitting the pieces together to investigate why. “So he’s not looking for our active service until we finish school, then?” It was more of a statement than a question, but she glanced at Antonin for confirmation anyway. He nodded reluctantly, and Alecto filled that away.

If he was only taking the seventh years, then that put her a year behind the others. By the time she finished her NEWTs and left Hogwarts, Bellatrix and the others would be his favorites. Alecto would always be the second group, trying to catch up to the first. It was a position she disliked intensely.

Antonin said nothing else as the carriage drew up at the Hogsmeade station, apparently satisfied that Alecto had learned enough. She was half tempted to follow him – or better yet Evan – onto the train and try to learn more, but she knew it wouldn’t work. Antonin was smart, powerful, and stubborn. He wouldn’t reveal anything else. And Evan would be joining the others, who would dismiss Alecto for being younger than them.

It would be futile to prod either boy any further, and Slytherins were not the futile sort. Instead, Alecto found an empty compartment on the train, knowing and not caring that her brother and probably some of the other sixth year students would eventually find her.

Antonin had given away much more than he had intended, Alecto was sure. She now knew that the dark lord did indeed exist, and was actively recruiting the graduating Slytherins. Immediately, Alecto began trying to turn this information to her own advantage.

The answer hit her fairly quickly, and this time she didn’t stop the smirk that threatened to spread across her face. This was the first movement of the new dark lord, the setting up of his chessboard, perhaps. And the older students had been interviewed and assessed. But for them, it had been a surprise.

Alecto, however, could see the moment coming. She would have a year to prepare for her interview with the new dark lord. She would see him tonight, but she was sure his interest would lie primarily with the seventh years. No, tonight was not the night to come to his attention.

But a year from now… when it came time for her personal interview, for the dark lord to asses her usefulness in his troops, Alecto would be ready. She would be the best whatever it was he was looking for. She’d figure that out tonight, and then she’d have a full year to perfect herself.

When the dark lord looked at her he would see exactly the kind of witch he needed. He’d see a witch who outshone her year mates, one who would put to shame even those he had worked with for a year.

When he finally met her face to face, the dark lord would see in Alecto the best soldier he could ever hope to have, because by then that was what she would be. And then it wouldn’t matter how connected her family wasn’t, or how she had never been a part of Bellatrix’s clique. Because by then Alecto would be _better_.


End file.
